On Tuesday I attended the meeting of the Jasper County Historical Society and heard a mention of a film called "Indiana's Everglades." I googled the term and found this video on youtube. I have done only a few posts that touch this subject, but it an important part of county and area history.
(Do not be surprised if on some days in the next two months I do not post. I have picked up an old project that requires I spend a lot of time in front of the computer doing very tedious work, so sitting in front of the computer and doing posts may be a bit too much for me. So if there are some dry spots, blame it on the macrons, breves, dotaccents, ogoneks, and carons.)
Addendum: I was disappointed to see the person playing the "greed card" at the beginning of the film. Using greed as an explanation is almost always either a sign of lazy thinking or an attempt to demonize people who have a different view of the world. Perhaps they will fix this in the final version. Land developers, like the pioneers who plowed up the prairies and cut down the forests, thought that they were doing a social good by turning wasteland into productive farmland. If you want to understand the vociferous opposition to the proposed wildlife refuge a few years ago, that attitude explains a lot more than some vague and nebulous notion of greed.
This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.
Interesting video. If you want a good read from an 1881 health report try this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2272439/pdf/pubhealthpap00022-0283.pdf
ReplyDeleteThank you for your ideas and input on the documentary. We want to show all sides of this story and consider your comments very valuable. I think during the time of the dredging of the river there was not a complete understanding of the role that wetlands play in our eco-system. Our hopes are that today maybe we understand this a little better and can work together to find that balance of progress and sustainablility. There are a lot of hard working industrious agricultural families that we have come to know and love during the making of this program who also love this river and want to help preserve the wonderful natural areas that we still have left. It is a great story and a tragic story but not a blame story. We believe that when you know better, you do better so knowledge is really the key. Thank you and we appreciate your input and will make adjustments to the final draft.
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